Print Email Facebook Twitter A planetary boundary for green water Title A planetary boundary for green water Author Wang-Erlandsson, Lan (Stockholm University) Tobian, Arne (Stockholm University; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) van der Ent, R.J. (TU Delft Water Resources) Fetzer, Ingo (Stockholm University) te Wierik, Sofie (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Porkka, Miina (Aalto University; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) Staal, Arie (Stockholm University; Universiteit Utrecht) Greve, Peter (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg) Gerten, Dieter (Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) Keys, Patrick W. (Colorado State University) Date 2022 Abstract Green water — terrestrial precipitation, evaporation and soil moisture — is fundamental to Earth system dynamics and is now extensively perturbed by human pressures at continental to planetary scales. However, green water lacks explicit consideration in the existing planetary boundaries framework that demarcates a global safe operating space for humanity. In this Perspective, we propose a green water planetary boundary and estimate its current status. The green water planetary boundary can be represented by the percentage of ice-free land area on which root-zone soil moisture deviates from Holocene variability for any month of the year. Provisional estimates of departures from Holocene-like conditions, alongside evidence of widespread deterioration in Earth system functioning, indicate that the green water planetary boundary is already transgressed. Moving forward, research needs to address and account for the role of root-zone soil moisture for Earth system resilience in view of ecohydrological, hydroclimatic and sociohydrological interactions. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8f0bdd2a-afb8-4a02-bdb8-e83282ccf717 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00287-8 Embargo date 2022-10-26 Source Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, 3 (6), 380-392 Bibliographical note Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type review Rights © 2022 Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Arne Tobian, R.J. van der Ent, Ingo Fetzer, Sofie te Wierik, Miina Porkka, Arie Staal, Peter Greve, Dieter Gerten, Patrick W. Keys, More Authors Files PDF Wang_Erlandsson_et_al_2022.pdf 2.03 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:8f0bdd2a-afb8-4a02-bdb8-e83282ccf717/datastream/OBJ/view